With over 23 years of experience in new technology solutions, delivery and client engagement roles, Mangalapadma Srinivasan Career highs have always been “a by-product of taking risks and stepping outside known boundaries.”

As Director, Verizon Consumer Groupis driving strategic innovations in 5G, mobile edge computing (MEC) and customer experience.

Growing up in Chennai, her parents were both professionals and she was fascinated by science and computers since childhood.

“I was obsessed with computer science in high school, reading books on science fiction and next generation technology, and working in computer labs. I have developed a better understanding of how technology can be applied to do things,” she says. her story.

The whole process of interpreting problem scenarios, critically evaluating them, and applying logic to come up with a framework for solutions kept her fascinated. This was also a starting point for Mangalapadma, who says technological advances were already happening around her and she was able to connect the dots there.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Computer Applications from the University of Madras. She started as a developer, test her strategist, crafting technical proposals, implementing automation roadmaps and now leads her digital transformation through the application of agile methodologies, data analytics and AI/ML models.

mangala padma

Mangalapadma Srinivasan

“Having been in IT for over 25 years, I have been fortunate enough to see the evolution of technology up close. It’s been an exciting journey, pushing towards the middle of my career and now leading to business transformation and client engagement in a leadership role at Verizon India,” she says.

Mangala Padma joined Verizon in 2020 to lead the Client Experience portfolio for Verizon Consumer Group in India, overseeing strategic initiatives across customer experience and business transformation. Prior to that, he worked for corporate organizations such as Cognizant and Accenture.

At Verizon, he leads a team of 500 technical professionals who oversee the Experience Management portfolio.

“I oversee quality engineering, intelligent enterprise-wide automation, site reliability engineering (SRE) practices, systems engineering practices, and client experience and improvement management to drive agile transformation across consumer organizations. I had the opportunity to lead,” she says.

Enabling Women in Tech

Mangala Padma is actively involved as an industry speaker, teaching aspiring young women the skill sets they need to navigate a volatile industry environment and prepare them for a diverse workplace. She attended her Tech4Girls STEM workshop in Cambridge sponsored by Verizon and engages with female techies across forums such as Techgeek Goddess.

According to her, women in tech need four key things. Support from organizations that support relevant learning and development opportunities to build on your career journey without having to make trade-offs in any aspect of your personal or professional life; an appropriate mentorship framework; Flexibility, autonomy, favorable policies and an inclusive environment for all, a superior support system that allows us to defy all odds. Above all, they need to own their life and career journey.

She believes that retaining women, especially in the middle of their careers, is the biggest challenge.

“As an ally of my team, I have had the opportunity to define workplace policies by starting a part-time role, and policies to ensure that when mothers return to work, they can master the learning program at their own pace. ’,” she says.

At Verizon, Mangalapadma also spearheads Tech for Women, a leadership program that empowers associate directors and senior managers on her team.

As Executive Sponsor of Women of the World (WOW), one of the company’s D&I women’s leadership development programs, she works with groups of 15 to 20 aspiring female leaders on five key dimensions: Guided and curated learning paths strategically focused on Leadership Development: Empowering Self to develop her leadership, create a personal brand, communicate effectively, use critical thinking, and own her career journey.

The biggest challenge in Mangala Padma’s journey so far has been “prioritizing and re-prioritizing in career and personal life.”

“Knowing what to focus on at specific milestones in life is a life skill that every woman working in tech needs to master. It is most important to keep this chain within yourself.Over time, you will learn the balance techniques that have helped you to juggle your work and personal priorities at different stages of your life as a woman. I was blown away,” she added.

Looking back, she wishes that as a young mother she had the innovative working model that women have now. I remember spending long hours in the office due to the lack of

“Over the past 15 to 20 years, there has been a dramatic shift in how teams engage with each other in space-agnostic setups, further boosting productivity levels significantly,” she says.

Mangala Padma’s greatest inspiration in life is her father, who taught her many life lessons. She encourages us to see beyond limits, explore new things, test and learn “by doing, not by speaking”.

Because life is all about pushing yourself to dream and achieve big things.